Prevalence of bacterial contamination in general operating theaters in selected hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Palestine.

OBJECTIVES

This study was conducted in general operating theaters at public and private hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Palestine to determine the prevalence of bacterial contamination of different objects.

METHODS

Swabs were collected from 21 items that were distributed over three categories (equipment, environment and personnel). In total, 243 swabs were collected at pre- and post-operation stages and were cultured and identified using standard microbiological procedures.

RESULTS

The results show that 24.7% of the swabs were contaminated with microorganisms. The equipment, environment and personnel were responsible for 45%, 48.3% and 6.7% of contamination, respectively. The rate (26.9%) of contamination in the post-operation samples was higher than in the pre-operation samples (22.6%), but the difference was not statistically significant. In addition, there was not a statistically significant increase in the prevalence of contamination in private (28.7%) compared to public hospitals (21.8%). Of the seven bacterial genera that were recovered, the highest percentage belonged to Staphylococcus spp. (45.3%) followed by Enterobacter spp. (23.4%).

CONCLUSIONS

This study reveals a moderate percentage of contamination in our public and private hospital general operating theaters, which may increase the risk factors for developing surgical-site infections. These observations justify more attention being paid to infection-control efforts in our hospitals.